Spotlight on Africa - 2 Nov 2015

In light of Retail Congress Africa, taking place over the next couple of days, this week features an article on the greater role the government ought to play in order to ease some of the challenges and enable growth in the retail sector. Professor Roger B. Mason, Wholesale and Retail Leadership Chair at CPUT, who will be speaking at the event, shares some insights on the subject.

Moreover, for brands to succeed in Africa, they will need to find a distribution partner that is able to build a successful route to market, writes Michael Wood. "In order to do this, brands need to invest more into managing and building the capabilities of their distributors. The problem is not scarcity of distributors, but rather a lack of skills and ability."

Then Danette Breitenbach weaves through Euromonitor International's latest report, stating that the African hair-care market will be a massive growth market for the continent. "The hair business in South Africa, Nigeria and Cameroon is estimated to be worth more than $7.6bn. Of this figure the black hair-care market is worth $4.2bn ... Contrary to popular belief, black women are not the biggest buyers of human hair - white women are..."